Assessment: The new law would outlaw all efforts by followers of Jesus, in any way, to share, discuss or try to persuade people of other faiths to consider changing their current religious beliefs …
“Is it possible for the Israeli government to pass legislation this year making it illegal to share the Gospel message in the very land where Jesus was born, raised, preached, died, buried and rose from the dead?”
This was the question raised by ALL ISRAEL NEWS Editor-in-Chief Joel C. Rosenberg in an article published on Sunday.
The unfortunate answer is, “yes.”
That is, if two ultra-Orthodox Jewish Knesset members – Moshe Gafni and Yaakov Asher – manage to get their latest bill proposal passed in the Knesset.
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” Romans 1:16 ESV
The proposed legislation targets Christians, in particular, which by their definition is anyone who calls themselves a follower of Jesus, or “Yeshua” in Hebrew.
The new law would outlaw all efforts by followers of Jesus, in any way, to share, discuss or try to persuade people of other faiths to consider changing their current religious beliefs.
In addition, “someone who solicits a person – directly, digitally, by mail or online – in order to convert his religion” would be deemed guilty of an illegal act worthy of a punishment.
The perpetrator can expect a sentence of “one year imprisonment,” or two years of jail time if the offense involves an individual under the age of 18.
[To read the actual text of the bill in English, please click here.]
[To read the text of the bill in its original Hebrew, please click here.]
So, who specifically are the two authors of this concerning legislation – Gafni and Asher – and what is their political role in the history of the Israeli government up until now?
Both are members of Israel’s highly-religious political party, United Torah Judaism (UTJ), which has a small but influential voice and vote in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s current coalition.
The bill is not actually new.
Gafni first introduced a version back in 1999.
The current proposal is really a rehash of a bill that the two lawmakers have introduced and attempted to pass a number of times over the years.
In 2013, they proposed a similar bill, which was voted down in 2014.
All parties except the ultra-Orthodox ones voted against it.
They brought it up again in 2015 – and again in 2021 – but those law proposals never even made it to a first hearing before the Knesset was dissolved.
However, this is the first time that the proposed law is being presented while Gafni and Asher are serving not just as members of Knesset but in the actual governing coalition.
Read the article @ All Israel News HERE
Regarding Mr. Gafni and Mr. Asher I see darkness in their eyes and I look at their faces and see how miserable they are, the light of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior is not in them, in fact I see these two as modern-day Pharisees!!! Having said that I do not foresee their bill ever passing because the main reason millions of people go to Israel is because of Jesus. the money and revenue they would lose by passing this bill is astronomical, no I don’t see that bill,ever being passed, praise the Lord Jesus Christ
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